لو كان الهبل بوجع … كانت العالم مشلوحة بالمستشفيات *

Yesterday, July 2nd Brazil played against Holland in the 2010 worldcup quarter final. Today July 3rd, Germany played against Argentina.
Brazil and Argentina lost. However that is not the big deal or the shocking factor. What shocked me and left me with a huge sarcastic sad smile on my face, was the fact that the mobile coverage in Beirut was down.
As if the assassination days are back… No one was able to call, receive or sms. Even our sorry ass wap connection was down.
I mean Brazil and Argentina lost big boohoo, but of course we as brazilian by origin and blood we will be bombarded with condolences calls or with mockery calls by our German or Holland originated friends. It is not enough that the network coverage sucks already… Noo, we need half of the lebanese people calling the other half, to really test the strength and the infra super structure of both Alfa and MTC.
I still can’t believe that I wasn’t able to make a phone call after Brazil lost?? Am I obliged to endure the 30 to 45 min mourning period?? And the messages I was getting on my phone were hilarious: congestion- no network coverage and the famous call failed.

To the lebanese football fans AKA official representatives of Brazil, Germany, Argentina, Italy (hahaha), France (hahahahahahahahaha) take it easy.

To make this post very short, activists, bloggers and people with common sense, are fighting against the passing of this law…

I mean, it will be a cold day in hell, when i would need a damn permit to set up one of my many “virtual” spaces. As far as I know, Lebanon is not Syria, KSA or China…

To be a bit fair towards our dear government, I know they are a bit short on cash… I mean this might be one way to get them pockets full, or maybe it is not about the money, it is about the “monitoring” power; But on what basis ?

Bottom line, I would urge all of us out there to mobilize this campaign, and to take it out of the “virtual” space… I’m sure very few of those 128 cabinet members are following us on twitter (#stopthislaw), though to be honest Bachir Gmayel is indeed following me (#justsaying).

LETS MAKE THE STREETS OUR PUBLIC TIMELINE.

PS: to check how good our connection is make sure you “read” Nadine Mouawad post

PPS: The ESSA law and VOIP law are two different laws, the latter is an already passed law, but not yet applied, and it prohibits “phone fraud” (It doesn’t influence, Skype, Gtalk or Yahoo).

However if the ESSA is to be passed, we will no longer have our freedom online, and we will be subject to arrests and violations of our “GOD GIVEN INTERNET RIGHTS”.

It just hit me; being a law abiding, hard working, socially active person doesn’t make me as Lebanese as my 12 years old brother or my dead grandfather (may he Rest in Peace).

Alright then, how about WE (the “Not As Lebanese As…”) do something about it, and no we are not going to sign a petition, or call Kalam el Nass. How about shape our Lebanese rights and duties to how Lebanese we are.

Since legally a man is more Lebanese than I am, it is only fair for him to :

Pay more taxes than I do

Pay more for the fuel tank than I do

Get paid more than I do (Oh wait, that is already happening but i assure you not because he is better than me)

Be held more responsible than I am

In the end that is what being a Lebanese apparently is all about.

My 12 years old brother is more Lebanese than me, because one day if he decides to marry a less Lebanese woman or a non Lebanese woman his kids would be Lebanese (or Less Lebanese than he is) .

But picture the injustice, if a less Lebanese citizen like myself, decided to marry a non Lebanese i don’t have the luxury to pass them my ‘Lebanese” nationality…

Samira Soueidan a woman who lost today in the Lebanese court, will not pass her nationality to her kids. We can’t blame the judiciary system, because as far as they are concerned they are following the law. The old rusty (أكل الدهر عليه وشرب) french- a la libanaise law, that is full of ambiguity, injustice and apparently resistant to time, change and maybe the ozone hole.

This law is our concern, and we should change it; Oh! but we can’t, I mean it is not up to me or you. It is up to a special group of 128 people with very special powers, hidden talent and incredible cleverness can (yes that was sarcasm).

However they are busy!!! yep, they are playing elections, corruption (most of them), Monopoly, mortal kombat or pac man (for the challenged ones :P). They can change the law, they can make me as Lebanese as my brother or as my dead grandfather… But till that day تلعبو بالكبه والأربعة (in what means, fcuk off, and go die)

I really don’t get it!! Maybe it is just me, but how come a visit to the north which is as far as I know is a part of Lebanon, and also as far as I know it contains christian maronites in big numbers, is a hystorical event!?! So then when my father visit us every weekend in Beyrut because he lives in Akkar is as hystorical as this one.

I am from akkar and I know for a fact we are not Jounieh or Ashrafieh, it is a underdeveloped area. People mainly live of their agriculture… So we can say it is a fairly poor area, maybe not good enough for his holiness.
Some might say it is because of the syrian domination of Akkar that he didn’t previously visit it, he was afraid for his life, as if the lives of his church member is not as equal…
Well that is not acceptable… It is not acceptable how the main stream media is covering this event, a historical visit, historical indeed, because only history will show and reveal the irony, the injustice and the lies.
I am from akkar, and I’m not happy he is here after all those years, I am from Akkar and I despise this superiority of his and of everyone like him.

Again maybe it is just me, or me and some fool people like me, but I’m not ok with this, Akkar is not in Palestine, because if it was then ill be damned if it wasn’t called the visit of the century, but Akkar is 70 min by car away from Diman.
He is the patriarch of Antioch and Levant, not the patriarch of Jounieh and Ashrafieh.

Thank you, and ‘God’ bless
Ps: if ‘God’ were to visit us, I would be fine with calling it hystorical, but again it is just me.

Waking up at 6 am on a Sunday is not usually my favorite or most wanted thing to do. However today was about something special, ROAD TRIP (and it is also the first round of Lebanese Municipality Elections in Mount Lebanon).

I still like to think about it as a Road Trip (The most tweeted Road Trip ever).

Ok, so the thing is that I volunteered to cover the Lebanese Municipality Elections which is a project by Lebloggers, and I was assigned to cover Baabda and Aley… for more information about the election check: Lebloggers…

I’m not an expert on the Shouf area, but I must say it is one of the most beautiful areas I’ve seen. I’m not a big nature fan, more of a windows & doors person and I found what I want (Note to self : go back and really shoot)…

I am also not an expert in citizen journalism but today’s experience was really something, we ( all the Lebloggers team member) actually managed to cover today’s event with the utmost level of professionalism and objectivity… We were a reference even to the main stream media … (*YEY*)

Looking forward to the next round of Municipality Elections, I’m sure that Lebloggers team will grow… but for now, don’t forget to check Lebloggers for photos, videos and articles as well as twitter using the following hashtags: #lebloggers, #engageleb.

PS : Tomorrow is my first day at my new job, wish me success 🙂 (*will keep you posted, and all i can think about is Maya’s illustration)

So, your sick of watching your piled up DVDs (I know I was today), so after a nice dinner, the normal suggestion comes up… How About a movie ?? (NB: next time my answer is NO).

However this time my answer was yes, I had a small urge in me to cry and i heard that “Remember Me” can make you cry, So “Remember Me” it was…

Location : ABC, Ashrafieh, Cinema 6, 10.30 p.m.

… The movie starts, people are silent, I’m happy and I really want to cry (you know the “get it out of your system” method).

The End.( Ya!! sure!)

… I wish, all hell break loose, the girl behind me suddenly misses her boyfriend and she calls him (phone sex i guess). Another one, i guess she had with her home made sandwiches, every 2 minutes she undergoes a whole process of Search and Rescue; grabbing her bag ( travel bag ), grabbing another bag, taking out the cucumbers, opening the sandwish and eating… she was pretty hungry i guess.

a bit behind me, you know in the famous “Just do it” seats, it was mating season well aka dry humping… next to them were the cute 13 years old who cam to see the movie hoping that it is just another Twilight (#fail) thingy. Oh and the cherry on my sundae was : a moron sitting behind me screaming out loud HOW THE MOVIE ENDS ( though i don’t personally mind knowing) but this time he really ruined it on me (the tears that is) and i was angry… and my ears were in pain.

The agonizing 2 hours goes by, and the special Lebanese “cute” moves come to sweep me of my feets, they started clapping 🙂 SERIOUSLY!!! But of course, we are in the Avant Premiere and Robert Pattinson is waiting for the crowd to salute him.

You can do it all in the Lebanese Movie Theaters ( except putting your feet on the chair ), you can eat, cook, talk, have phone sex, hump, be a moron, be a macho (if someone tells you to shut up or keep it down a bit)… you can be everything you want, except a respectful person to whom around you.

I’m home now, looking at my DVD collection with all the love in the world.